I found in some latin documents DEPUTATIS MAGNUS THESAURARII, but I know that is not nominative. which would be the right form?sorry, I have no knowledge of latin but I have to come up with a solution for this translation...

I just have these titles(offices) to translate. now I found: DEPUTATIS MAGNUS THESAURARIO also, for secretary I have to choose between: SECRETARIUS and VITO A SECRETIS. The first term I found in a Vatican document, and the second in a Freemasonry constitution. Can you tell me what does VITO A SECRETIS mean literally? What is the sense, apart from the fact that is translated into English as "secretary".

DEPUTATIS MAGNUS THESAURARIO = either it's wrongly transcribed, or it doesn't make sense as a title of office out of its context. What is the full sentence and check the spelling?

lacramioara wrote:I have to choose between: SECRETARIUS and VITO A SECRETIS

Maybe "VITO A SECRETIS" is in another language (Italian?) but it doesn't mean "secretary" in Latin, in my opinion. Someone else may know better. What makes you think it does mean "secretary", if it's from a document you don't understand? (Just wondering about what you're looking at.) Again, either it's wrongly transcribed, or it doesn't make any sense out of its context. Again, what is the full sentence? Also, if you've contracted as a professional translator, you should get a professional latin translator for this.

for Viro à Secretis and Thesaurario, in a constitution of freemasonry: "Sumæ omnes as expensas subeundas receptæ - tributa nempé pro admissione - quæ titulo initiationis grandibus suprà XVIm ad XXXIIIm inclusum, exiguntur, mittentur in thesaurum Sancti Imperii, curantibus Præsidibus et Thesaurariis Conciliorum, Sublimiumque Latomiarum eorumdem graduum, Supremis Magnis Inspectoribus Generalibus, eorumque Deputatis, necnon Illustri Viro à Secretis, Illustrique Thesaurario Sancti Imperii."this is translated by them in English: All moneys received for defrayal of expenditures, - to wit, fees for admissions - which are required to be paid as fee for initiation, for the degrees from the 16th to the 33rd inclusive, are to be paid into the Treasury of the Holy Empire; which is to be seen by the Presiding Officers and Treasurers of Councils and Sublime Lodges of those Degrees, by the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General and their Deputies, and by the Illustrious Secretary and Treasurer of the Holy Empire."

so, my question is, what would be the difference in sense between SECRETARIUS and VIRO à SECRETIS

For example, I interpret the job of a secretary as taking care of correspondence, arranging the meetings, documenting meting minutes, etc.For me, since I don't know Latin, looking at "vir a secretis" (viro a secretis) takes my mind to a secret keeper or something like that. Maybe there was in the past a job of a more intimate secretary, like a confidant, and this was the "vir a secretis". I don't know the literary translation of VIR/VIRO and SECRETIS taken separately and what can they mean putted together.

This is why I ask you if you know if there is any subtle difference, since I understand now that both terms are translated in English as "secretary".

I just repeat, they're synonyms. The secret (pun intended) is in a close reading of both words, because "secretary" also originally carries the meaning (in both English and in Latin) of a confidant, or having access to secrets. Iterum dico, synonyma sunt. Responsum ad aenigma in "secretus -a -um" verbo invenitur, quià "secretarius" et anglicè et latinè intimus consiliis vel secretis significat.

About "a secretis", meaning "private secretary". Take a look to Latham and Mittellateinisches Wörteburch (Munich, 1959, s. u.). It seems that it is a medieval expression, formed by analogy with formulas such as "a libellis" or "ab epistulis", which were used to designate imperial servants. Miller in his edition of Erasmus' Encomium Moriae (p. 144), repeats this information, but I am not sure that the meaning there is the above mentioned: